What Is That Weird Stuff at the Bottom of My Fridge?

Yesterday I threw out all the expired, questionable, or otherwise unappetizing things in my fridge. Today I got down into the dirty, dark side of the two-day fridge task for The Kitchn Cure: the actual cleaning and organizing. With a few cleaning supplies on hand, an easy cleaning guide, and the will to succeed, this task went a lot faster than I anticipated.

There was only one small, gross snag that I encountered in my quest: what exactly is that weird "cheese-like" substance at the bottom of my fridge?

After taking the food out of my fridge and putting it on my kitchen island, I took out the shelves and gave them a good, strong cleaning for the first time ever. Surprisingly, there really wasn't that much questionable gunk that needed to be scrubbed off.

Then it was time to clean the walls of the refrigerator. This is when I discovered this dried cheese-like shards at the bottom of my fridge. What could it possibly be and did it get there?! How could I have lived in the same apartment for two years and never noticed that stuff?

Cleaning the dried bits off the bottom of the fridge was not fun. Not fun at all.

I put all the vegetables in the bottom drawer, then the drinks and larger condiments on the shelf above that one, and the dairy and jam at the top of the fridge. I made sure to wipe everything down before putting it back in.

Looking at my refrigerator now it appears I have a lot more space than I thought. There are still too many cartons of eggs and too many drinks, but it's not as bad before. It's time to go grocery shopping!